Yahoo News Kim Cattrall Dishes on the Demands of Her ‘And Just Like That’ Cameo
Kim Cattrall wasn’t interested in returning to the Sex and the City franchise, unless she’d be allowed to do so in style.
During an appearance on The View, where she was ostensibly promoting her new Netflix series Glamorous, Cattrall dished about the call that she received from HBO about appearing on And Just Like That and the things that she needed, including the involvement of famed costume designer Patricia Field, to get to “yes.”
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As The Hollywood Reporter previously reported, Cattrall’s cameo as Samantha Jones in the second season finale came about after she was approached by HBO chairman and CEO Casey Bloys, who also approached showrunner Michael Patrick King about the prospect of having the character return. King then wrote her cameo scene — which was filmed with a limited crew and without any interaction with her co-stars — into the finale.
“It’s very interesting to get a call from the head of HBO saying, what can we do? and I went, Hmm. Let me get creative,” Cattrall shared on The View. “And one of those things was to get Pat Field back, because I just thought that if I’m going to come back I gotta come back with that Samantha style, I gotta push it. And we did.”
Field, the iconic Sex and the City costume designer, agreed to makes her return to the franchise to dress Cattrall for the scene. She is also the costume designer on Glamorous. (Field was already working on Emily in Paris, from SATC creator Darren Star, when And Just Like That came about.)
Cattrall was vocal about not wanting to return to the franchise when the Max sequel was first announced. The season one death of the Big character, played by Chris Noth, was a plot carried over from the Sex and the City 3 film that never materialized; the narrative of Big’s death and its focus on Carrie’s recovery was reportedly what made the since-vocal Cattrall uninterested in reprising her role, thus scrapping the third installment.
When speaking to THR about the decision to feature the Samantha cameo, King said, “I know Kim [Cattrall] said that she’d hung up the Samantha wardrobe, and then some magic happened behind the scenes because all of a sudden there was a possibility of it happening. Something about the 25th anniversary, the fans have always asked for Samantha and something happened where all of a sudden I was like, ‘Well, maybe if it’s a possibility, I can come up with a small, beautiful, little treat.’ And that’s what happened.”
Her original co-stars, and executive producers on the revival series, echoed that the moment was meant to be a surprise for fans as a treat for the 25th anniversary, and said they were disappointed it leaked ahead of time.
“When we first started talking about this idea, it’s just such an opportune moment in the story and it was really a nod to the 25 years,” Sarah Jessica Parker told THR. “It’s just a really sentimental, funny, sweet moment that is timed perfectly for a specific event that’s happening in Carrie’s life. It’s so familiar. So it’s really nice, I think.”
Kristin Davis said it felt right for the former friends to reconnect: “It seemed right for the story and for the fans. Friends might move and not be in your life all the time, and that doesn’t mean you’re not friends. Sometimes you don’t talk to people for a while, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reconnect. So, that rings true and I felt good about it; I felt like it was the right choice to make.”
And Cynthia Nixon described the moment as a one-off, rather than a scene-setter for more Samantha in a potential season three. “It was really intended as a fun surprise. It’s a real bummer that it leaked because I think a lot of the beauty of it was that people wouldn’t know it was coming and then (clap) Samantha would just pop up. I think it’s a one-time thing, kind of a 25th anniversary nod kind of thing, personally,” she said.
In a Friday interview on Today, Cattrall similarly described the cameo as an onscreen goodbye of sorts to the character. “It felt like dipping my toe back in time and having a wonderful afternoon, and then a great martini … That’s as far as I’ll go,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll ever say goodbye to Samantha. She’s like a lot of other characters that I’ve done over the years. I get very emotionally attached and protective of my characters. She gave me so much and I’m so appreciative of her.”
When explaining her decision to distance herself from the franchise, Cattrall added on The View, “At this point in my life especially, where I want to spend the time and with whom is really important to me, and what I want to say with the characters that I play,” she said. “So I’ve learned through the years to sort of take a step back and see myself doing something and really register how that feels. Does that feel right? Or, no, I should be over on this trek here. That feels more me, more now.”
She continued, “I like to think at this point I can collaborate. So there has to be a reason that I say no.”
June 29, 6 a.m. Updated to include Today interview.
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